Translated material
Military censorship. The authorities blocked "horizontal Russia"
The so -called "special operation" in Ukraine led to an almost complete cleaning of the information field - dozens of independent Russian and foreign media have stopped working and stopped working in Russia. On March 7, a warning about blocking from Roskomnadzor received the site "7x7 - horizontal Russia", one of the rare publications about the life of the Russian province. As the project is going to work in the new conditions, the correspondent of the North Realia found out .
At least 60 publications were blocked since February 24, when the so -called "special military operation" began, which, under the threat of administrative and criminal sanctions , the Russian authorities forbid to call "war". Foreign Russian -speaking media were the first to fall under the knife, mainly Ukrainian, on February 26, Readovka was blocked, and the next day - the current time. All the Radio Liberty projects have been subjected to the current day, including the North. Realiy (thanks for continuing to read us), the Russian BBC service stopped working, and the Echo of Moscow Radio was generally liquidated as a legal entity, with the closure of all accounts on social networks. Of the large independent media, only the New Gazeta remained in the public domain.
Roskomnadzor blocks not only federal, but also regional media, such as the Voice of the Kuban or the Pskov province. On March 5, the police submitted to the Pskov editorial office and, under the pretext of "inspection", seized all computer and video equipment, including personal phones. “In such a situation, we still cannot work normally and are forced to report the suspension of work until we understand how we can work technically. In addition, we were defiantly made to understand that riot police can put our trainees on the floor and we cannot ensure their safety,” the editorial office said in a telegram channel.
The project "7x7 - horizontal Russia" collects information from more than 30 regions of the country. This is one of the few employers for independent journalists in the province, where there are very few private media, and censorship has been introduced in state de facto. “So far, no one has come to me with a clear refusal to cooperate,” Oleg Grigorenko, editor -in -chief of the site comments on the blocking.
- Even before the blocking, we faced the fact that some people simply asked not to call them: "We are ready to express our opinion, but we ask not to mention our names." Some people asked to do this retrospectively from our old texts. It is clear that there are concerns for safety due to the unpredictability of what is happening in Russia now, this is very nervous. I don’t know how we can exist when the media acts essentially, but the site is blocked. Since now the weekend, we cannot say how we will work with the official authorities. I noticed an increase in interest in our publications in social networks - in those that blocking did not affect. There is interest in publications, there is an increase in the audience, and in any case, talk about the problems that arose in connection with the events of the last two weeks. People need this information.
According to Oleg Grigorenko, the editors are going to continue work and dialogue with Roskomnadzor, "because we are trying to stay in the legal field." The formulations of the notifications were too non -unknown to understand why the site "7x7" was blocked.
- What decision did you make regarding vocabulary?
- I believe that we must protect our heroes and our authors, and we do not use the words that the Russian official bodies consider misinformation. It is at the level of vocabulary.
The director and co -founder of the project, Pavel Andreev, says that “7x7” did not previously consider the probability of blocking, believing that he could work in a legal field, even taking into account all repressive practices.
“We even had a specially designed our own bot, which made all these moronic notes that Roskomnadzor demanded of us,” Andreev says. - But as soon as I woke up on the first day and found out about the shooting and bombing, the first thought was that we needed to come up with an option of how we live in case of introducing military censorship. It seems to me that now the implementation of military censorship is being introduced and blocking is, relatively speaking, a light version of what could happen to us.
- Are you going to continue work or will you close, as other media have done?
- We will definitely continue to work. In what form - we are now solving it. I think there will be some period of transformation. The first step is, of course, a much stronger accent on social networks, in particular, a telegram channel. The rest, I think, will be clear within a week. You need to move away from the shock, you need to see how the events will develop globally, you need to understand the mood. Now many are in a state of shock, and make quick decisions when you have stress - this is wrong. In general, I think that some of the media closures were erroneous when people themselves refused to work. It seems to me that it was necessary to wait out this situation and then solve. Fast solutions will be wrong with a high probability.
- Are there any panic moods among regional correspondents?
- I think that from the fact of blocking - no, but from the very fact that happened in Russia, of course is. A large number of people have a desire to leave. Not even to leave, but right to run away from these events, it is stupid to deny. I remain in Russia, our second co -founder also remains in Russia. The editors, who will have the biggest responsibility for published texts, will temporarily leave Russia to be in a calm situation and think about how to work further.
"7x7" is not only the media, but also a large activist project. It was created as a working tool for civilian activists to help local public initiatives - so that they can find partners, like -minded people and build horizontal networks. "12 years ago, we did not know the word non -playing, but now we can say that horizontal non -playing is the main essence of our activity," says Andreev.
Today, all offline events and educational programs are paused, and the main task is to preserve the team and its moral spirit.
“It seems to me that in the face of wartime, humanitarian work is especially important,” says Pavel Andreev. - But it is necessary that the people who make it have moral forces to continue.
- The so -called "special operation" has become a kind of exam for civil society in Russia. Do you have the feeling that this exam is failed?
- Of course, if there were so much effort that different civilian and private companies have now spent on organizing the urgent departure of all their employees, colleagues abroad - full planes fly away from Russia! - If all these forces were spent on organizing a single peacekeeping initiative, then, of course, there would be a completely different situation. But alas. From the point of view of society, it would be rational to invest in a stop of hostilities, but from the point of view of each particular person, it is rational to invest in his own safety and the safety of their loved ones. I also understand and do not condemn this very well.
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0:00 0:05:18- Is there really support in society with this "special operation" or is it a skillfully created information background?
- I can quote the results of the survey in the most folk social network "Vkontakte" in the public of the Communist Party of the Communist Party. Several thousand there voted, and the pacifist position was ahead of the militarist-somewhere it was 40% by 36%. As a result, there were more pacifists. Despite the fact that the Communist Party of the Communist Party, who is signed for this group, is just the Putin majority. It seems to me that at least there is a split. The illusion of total support is exactly what is the illusion, there is no total support. It seems to me that the situation is very fragile, and that is why it is forbidden to use the word "war". Why the word "special operation" is used - as soon as they call it "war", this will immediately change the essence of the matter. All propaganda forces are abandoned to get this story. It should be noted that there is still a reaction in society. And yesterday’s thousands of detainees say that tens of thousands of thousands of peacekeeping shares. And each of those who came out in Russia costs a hundred who came out somewhere in Berlin, where you will not be for you to participate in the action, but on the contrary, you get all kinds of support. In a situation where in Russia every access to the action threatens with a criminal case, you can conditionally multiply the number of people who went out by one hundred - and you get the real figure of those who thought about going to a rally or march.